ROME (AP) — The United Nations' food aid agency said Wednesday that severe funding cuts from its top donors are especially hurting its operations in six countries and warned that nearly 14 million people could be forced into emergency levels of hunger.
The World Food Program, traditionally the U.N.'s most-funded agency, said in a new report that its funding this year “has never been more challenged” — largely due to slashed outlays from the U.S. under the Trump administration and other leading Western donors.
It warned that 13.7 million of its food aid recipients could be forced into emergency levels of hunger as funding is cut. The countries facing “major disruptions” are Afghanistan, Congo, Haiti, Somalia, South Sudan and Sudan, it said.
“We are watching the lifeline for millions of people disintegrate before our eyes,” Executive Director Cindy McCain said.
WFP said it expects to receive 40% less funding this year, leading to a projected budget of $6.4 billion — after receiving some $10 billion last year, and it has been reducing what was a staff of 22,000 by about 6,000 posts.
“This is not just a funding gap – it’s a reality gap between what we need to do and what we can afford to do,” McCain said in a statement. “We are at risk of losing decades of progress in the fight against hunger."
The Rome-based agency says global hunger is already at record levels, with 319 million people facing acute food insecurity — including 44 million at emergency levels. Famine has broken out in Gaza and Sudan.
In Afghanistan, food assistance is reaching less than 10% of people who are food insecure — meaning that they don't know where their next meal will come from, the agency said.
WFP says it has received about $1.5 billion from the United States this year, down from nearly $4.5 billion last year, while other top donors have also cut funding.
Many United Nations organizations, including the migration, health and refugee agencies, have announced sharp aid and staffing cuts this year because of reduced support from traditional big donors. The humanitarian aid community has also been affected by sharp cuts to the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID.
Jean-Martin Bauer, WFP's head of food security and nutrition analysis, said the cuts from the United States — traditionally, and still, WFP's biggest donor — "have been substantial for the entire humanitarian community, and for WFP specifically.”
“All major donors to WFP have curtailed their funding to WFP. It’s not one donor. It’s almost all of the major donors to the organization,” Bauer said in an interview. “It’s not just WFP that’s impacted, it’s also other large humanitarian agencies.”
Keaten reported from Geneva.
An earlier version corrected this article to make clear that the WFP has received about $1.5 billion from the United States this year, not that this is the amount the agency expects.
FILE - A woman carrying a child walks away with food from the World Food Program (WFP) at the Jean Marie Vincent High School whish has been turned into a shelter for families displaced by gang violence in the Tabarre neighborhood of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Thursday, July 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph, File)
FILE - Children wait for transportation after receiving food donated by the World Food Program, in Kabul, Afghanistan, Jan. 24, 2017. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul, File)
FILE - A man scoops up portions of wheat to be allocated to each waiting family after distribution by the U.N. World Food Programme (WFP) in the Gendrassa Refugee Camp, Maban, South Sudan, Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Caitlin Kelly, File)
The risk of a catastrophic explosion at a damaged chemical tank in Southern California has been eliminated following a close overnight inspection that confirmed a crack in the tank relieved pressure and cooled the chemical, authorities said Monday.
Officials said crews conducted tank temperature checks at night to reduce risks to firefighters, avoiding daytime operations when heat from the tank made conditions around it most dangerous. The overnight mission allowed crews to verify the crack and confirm temperatures were falling, Orange County Fire Authority division chief Craig Covey said Monday morning.
Covey said the results of overnight evaluation of the tank — that the temperature inside had dropped and that pressure had been released — was “incredibly positive news.”
However, evacuation orders remained in place for about 50,000 people in Garden Grove, California, located south of Los Angeles.
Covey said falling temperatures and the release of pressure from the tank were allowing officials to “turn the corner on this incident” after days of concern about a possible explosion.
There has been no chemical leak as of early Monday, but the Orange County Fire Authority said the risk to public safety is “ongoing.”'
After the tank overheated Thursday and began venting vapors, firefighters have repeatedly sprayed the tank with water in an attempt to cool the chemical inside, methyl methacrylate, which is used to make plastic parts.
The tank's interior reached 100 degrees (37.7 Celsius) Sunday, an increase of 10 degrees Fahrenheit (5.5 Celsius) since Saturday, according to Democratic state Sen. Tom Umberg. On Monday, Covey said the temperature fell to 93 degrees F (33.9 degrees C).
Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency Saturday and said he asked President Donald Trump to issue an emergency declaration to bolster federal support for local and state officials.
The tank at GKN Aerospace Transparency Systems, which makes parts for commercial and military aircraft, holds 6,000 to 7,000 gallons (22,700 to 26,500 liters) of methyl methacrylate used to make plastic parts.
The first goal of firefighters was to cool off the chemical inside the tank to prevent a leak or explosion.
Drones were monitoring temperatures at 10-minute intervals to watch for any spikes. Containment barriers were set up to prevent the chemical from getting into storm drains or reaching creeks or the nearby ocean in the event of a spill, Covey said earlier.
As the interior temperature rises, methyl methacrylate converts from a liquid to a gas and increases the pressure, according to Purdue University engineering professor Andrew Whelton, who had said earlier that the crack could mean product or pressure is being released, reducing the chance of explosion.
“Think of a soda can. If you leave it in a hot car it can explode,” Whelton said. “But if you put a hole in the can, the product is released and the can itself doesn’t explode.”
An explosion that could spread the chemical over a broad area and send shrapnel flying would be the worst-case scenario, he said.
Aerial photos taken by The Associated Press showed streets in the area were empty Sunday, while several evacuation shelters were open. At a high school in neighboring La Palma, people slept in cars or on mats and sleeping bags on the asphalt.
Garden Grove is next to Anaheim, home to Disneyland’s two theme parks, which were not under evacuation orders. Park officials said they were monitoring the situation.
Exposure to methyl methacrylate can cause serious respiratory problems, neurological problems and irritation to the skin, eyes and throat, according to fact sheets about the chemical.
Whelton said if an explosion occurs, it will be crucial to conduct detailed air monitoring specifically for methyl methacrylate and not just generic tests for volatile organic compounds as officials did after a 2023 train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, which released more than 115,000 gallons (435,000 liters) of vinyl chloride after officials blew open five tank cars and burned the chemical.
Orange County health officials said the chemical is easy to smell and people may notice it over a large area without being harmed.
Some Garden Grove residents filed a class-action federal lawsuit Saturday against GKN Aerospace Transparency Systems, which operates the facility where the tank is located. Lawyers for the residents argued that regardless of what happens, property values in the surrounding community are sure to be impacted.
GKN Aerospace did not comment on the lawsuit but has apologized to residents and businesses forced to evacuate. It said Sunday it was “working around the clock to mitigate the risk of a leak.”
GKN Aerospace agreed in 2025 to pay state regulators more than $900,000 to settle violations involving recordkeeping, permitting issues and nitrogen oxide emissions, according to a report on the South Coast Air Quality Management District website.
Associated Press journalist Ethan Swope in Garden Grove, California, contributed to this report.
An evacuation map is displayed at the incident command post at the Los Alamitos Race Course in Cypress, Calif., on Sunday, May 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)
Water is sprayed on a damaged tank at GKN Aerospace in Garden Grove, Calif., on Sunday, May 24, 2026, after the tank containing a chemical used to make plastic parts overheated Thursday. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)
The streets remain empty in Garden Grove, Calif., on Sunday, May 24, 2026, after a storage tank containing a chemical used to make plastic parts overheated Thursday at an aerospace plastics facility. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)
Emergency personnel work at the incident command post at the Los Alamitos Race Course Sunday, May 24, 2026, in Cypress, Calif. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)
Water is sprayed on a damaged tank at GKN Aerospace in Garden Grove, Calif., on Sunday, May 24, 2026, after the tank containing a chemical used to make plastic parts overheated Thursday. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)
